Software majors dominate IISc placements

Peerzada Abrar, ET BureauMar 3, 2010, 02.21am IST

BANGALORE: Software giants have dominated placements at the country's premier science research institution, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), this year, dethroning traditional manufacturing firms.

IISc's placement season has become a bonanza for computer science/ infotech graduates, many of whom have been lapped up by IBM, Cisco, Brocade, Infosys, and others, at salaries 15-20% higher than that of the previous year.

Of the 270 post-graduate students, around 150, largely from infotech courses, have been placed so far. The remaining students are expected to be placed by April end of this year.

IISc has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for engineering and automobile companies, but this year has been different. IT and software services companies have appeared determined to grab the best talent.

"We are hopeful that by April end, we will be able to place 90% of our batch," said professor Ashok M Raichur, associate chairman of the Centre for Scientific & Industrial Consultancy, an IISc unit responsible for campus recruitment. "Based on our survey and interactions with the IT industry, we will be advancing our next placement season to November this year, instead of January 2011. This is because the market situation is improving and companies want to grab the talent as early as possible," Mr Raichur said. Experts such as GC Jayaprakash, principal consultant at executive search firm Stanton Chase, said the manufacturing sector is probably shying away as it is unable to afford salary packages similar to that of the IT sector.

Mr Jayaprakash said that sectors such as IT, telecom and healthcare are offering new research opportunities for students. Manufacturing firms in India are not doing much in research and development like their counterparts in the Europe and the US. "IT is taking away the cherry and the cake and there is a huge difference in the compensation packages paid to employees in the IT sector compared with the manufacturing sector," he added.

Engineering students have not found many takers, though the highest offer of Rs 22-31 lakh per annum is expected to be made by Rolls-Royce and Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) research lab, sources at IISc said.